Thanks to Chelsea Now for keeping the plight of our residents on the front page. (Well, the second page anyway.) They quote us in their buzz column this week on the anonymous Chelsea Hotel tenant who has his rent raised from the exorbitant $200.00 per night, to the near extortionate $315.00. We have heard of two other similar cases since then, indicating a pattern of efforts to get people out.
We do need to clear up one misconception however: The tenants in question are permanent tenants, rather than transients. Of the cases we mentioned, the shortest term tenant had been in his room around 8 months, the longest almost two years. Any tenant who has lived in a residential hotel for more than 29 days is considered permanent, and may well be rent stabilized. Whether you are charged by the day, week, or month makes no difference.
We must stress once again that BD cannot simply call the cops and have you evicted. They must go through a long, drawn out court proceeding that could take a year or more and may result in your rent actually being reduced and you being paid damages. Please, don’t take our word for it: consult a lawyer. If you feel you cannot afford to consult a lawyer contact the West Side SRO Law Project at 212-799-9638. --Ed Hamilton
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